VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The new and improved Britney Spears apparently isn't a fan of cigarette smoke — or any other kind of smoke, for that matter — while she's performing.

The 27-year-old pop star left the stage for about 30 minutes during a concert in Vancouver on Wednesday night, apparently because of smoke in the audience.

According to The Vancouver Sun, Spears' concert was halted about 15 minutes into her performance, and an announcer told concertgoers to put out their cigarettes. Some audience members grew impatient while waiting for Spears and her troupe to return to the stage, the Sun reported.

After she returned and ended the show, Spears — who has been to rehab and is on the comeback trail after a long stretch of troubles — told the crowd, "Don't smoke weed."

Spears' publicist, Holly Shakoor, issued a statement apologizing to fans about the delay. The statement said "crew members above the stage became ill due to a ventilation issue."

Spears began her "Circus" tour of the United States, Canada and England on March 3 in New Orleans. Her father and attorneys are exploring the possibility of expanding the tour to include more shows in Europe and Australia.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090409/ap_en_...cmAmgmljBcDW7oF

Suddenly she doesn't like drugs anymore. Oh deh ironeez.

I'm guessing it has something to do with her not acting like a train wreck and actually getting her career back since she went through some rehab.

speaking of irony....

when Bush did it, it was bad

now when your savior does the very same thing, it is ok.

you're a dope PB

You know what's funny? She specifically told the crowd to quit smoking dope, but cigarettes get the blame. She smokes cigarettes, anyway.

I doubt you would even be allowed to carry a pack of cigarettes into a concert these days, anyway.

BTW, I haven't had one since I decided to quit paying extortion about a month ago. Actually, I miss football more than cigarettes. And that's after 31 years of smoking. So much for the "you can't do it alone, you must take our drugs" crap. You just make up your mind that you're not going to participate in anyone's scam. I would gladly resume smoking if the politicians would remove the 2 most recent tax increases. Until then, I'm enacting my own ban. My disdain for the erosion of personal freedoms is stronger than any urge to smoke.

If enough smokers did this, the politicians would be begging people to smoke again. Their magic piggy bank would dry up.